Simply stated, there is a longstanding problem of providing relaxation for the nervous system and spinal column. Individuals exacerbate asymmetrical experiential anomalies to form and reinforce abnormal spinal stress affecting the nervous system; which often perpetuate into chronic physiological conditions. Pain, fatigue, false organ sensation, circulatory perturbations, and pulmonary dysfunctions are among the countless combinations of otherwise nondescript discomforts that trouble many people, whose primary incapacity is a failure to regularly return to a body mode that is conducive to the restoration of proper natural balances of anatomical forces.
In a critical aspect, the problem is to provide a general comprehensive solution for the majority of individuals, whose problematic aspects have not reached such chronic disproportions as to warrant individualized diagnosis, care and treatment by qualifies medical specialists; and certainly for those who have reached more chronic conditions. Given the ergonomic fallacies of the modern life style, a preponderance of individuals are in the process of developing anatomical perturbations, which in turn generally digress into painful clinical manifestations. While there is a need for the general public to become more aware of best practices for healthful lifestyles in general and correct body movements in specific, there is simultaneously an ongoing need to provide a condition non-specific means for ongoing stresses of the spinal column, nerve system and related systems (internal and external organs, muscular, circulatory, neurological, etc.) to undo the integrals of dysfunctional posture; and to progressively return to proper structural skeletal orientations. Furthermore, given the fickleness of most members of the general public, regarding active cooperation for the improvement of their own wellness, there is an ongoing longstanding need for passive apparatus that can help individuals to healthfulness; since cooperative measures such as proper diet and correctional exercises have only found regular adherence among faddists or in conjunctions with sometimes unrelated philosophical proponents.
The prior art addressing the aforesaid matters includes pharmaceutical remedies, dietary programs, electromechanical contraptions, and passive apparatuses; each respectively claiming some success, therapeutic or preventative. Regarding passive apparatus, there are those having patient specific conformal shapes and those of applicability to ordinary members of the general public. Among items applicable for the general public, one finds pillows, neck supports, cushions, mattresses, back braces, girdles, combinations thereof, and the likes. Now, in the field of mattresses, there are only a limited set of combinations; derived by respectively relating to the head, neck, torso, abdomen, and pelvis. Nevertheless, since mattresses are certainly not a new art, there are many specialized variations that appear in the patent literature. Examples (substantially in order of relevance) include US 2005/0283104; U.S. Pat. No. 6,154,903; U.S. Pat. No. 6,691,354; U.S. Pat. No. 7,020,918; U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,710; U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,529; U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,573; U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,913; U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,153; U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,591; U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,559; U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,798; U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,916; U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,519; US 2004/007008; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,982,466 and 5,129,115; U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,021; RU 2240765; U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,258; U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,535; U.S. Pat. No. 6,585,328; and in the narrow sub-group related to adaptations for pregnant women U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,348; U.S. Pat. No. 7,065,817; U.S. Pat. No. 7,065,816; WO 03105634; and JP 2004089697.
Also, by way of background introduction, the present invention makes use of the term “shape memory foam” which is a specialized material that provides a simulation of buoyancy (floatation) when used in a sufficiently thick upholstery or mattress layer. Common examples (from what one may appreciate from the general literature) of a Visco-elastic or slow return “memory foam” include SUN-MATE or TEMPER FOAM (trademarks), both supplied by Dynamic Systems of Leicester, N.C., U.S.A.; a partial equivalent is a viscous gel, supplied by Canadian Posture and Seating Centre (1988) Inc., of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, under its trademark LIQUISOF. Various patents also direct the reader to other variants of substantial equivalents such as may be learned from U.S. Pat. No. 5,994,450 Gelatinous elastomer and methods of making and using the same and articles made therefrom; U.S. Pat. No. 6,498,198 Fill for pillows and cushions; U.S. Pat. No. 6,156,842 Structures and fabricated articles having shape memory made from .alpha.-olefin/vinyl or vinylidene aromatic and/or hindered aliphatic vinyl or vinylidene interpolymers; U.S. Pat. No. 7,091,297 Shape memory polymers based on semi-crystalline thermoplastic polyurethanes bearing nanostructured hard segments; and the likes. By way of non-limiting explanation, soft texture Visco-elastic foam advocates describe it as “the optimum choice, as it creates an area which is less resistant to deformation than is the remainder of the seat cushion. This difference in “softness” or deformability allows more support or weight transfer to occur.”
Briefly stated, there is a longstanding need for a passive apparatus that can help many nominal and intermediate spinal stress related sufferers to have temporary relief from such aches and pains, and preferably longer term benefits of improved mobility, nervous system functioning and overall energetic wellbeing.